The present invention relates to porous wood-based lignocellulosic material, particularly manufactured wood-based products. The present invention more particularly relates to the modification of porous wood-based lignocellulosic material and the treatment method by which the modification is accomplished.
By porous wood-based lignocellulosic material is meant herein material of or derived from lignocellulosic biomass of wood. The primary constituents of lignocellulosic biomasses generally are cellulose and hemicellulose polysaccharides and lignin. Common wood-based lignocellulosic materials include, without limitation, lumber, plywood, hardboard, particle board and cardboard.
While there is a wide variation in properties of porous wood-based lignocellulosic materials, they are all, unless treated, flammable, hydrophilic and susceptible to pest damage. None of these porous wood-based lignocellulosic materials has any significant strength beyond the strength derived from density and/or thickness and/or lamination, such as the cross-grain lamination of plywood. All of these porous wood-based lignocellulosic materials shrink, deform, dry out, deteriorate and otherwise fail over time. In other words, all have limited lifetimes.
There are many applications, including without limitation various uses in the construction field, in which such limited-lifetime properties of porous wood-based lignocellulosic material are undesirable, and at times prohibit the use of a given lignocellulosic material.